Rob Ford declares Chicago trade mission won't cost taxpayers 'a dime'

Chicago — In a moment of levity in a red-carpeted room of Chicago’s swanky Conrad Hotel, Mayor Rahm Emanuel joked that he and Mayor Rob Ford had thought about reading each other’s remarks before putting pen to paper.

Instead, the two men stuck to plugging their own hometowns during the headlining moment of Toronto’s trade mission to the Windy City. They re-signed the “sister-city” agreement, struck in 1991, so that it becomes a more “business-oriented partnership.”

“It’s all about getting Toronto on the map, and getting jobs in Toronto,” Mayor Ford said later on Wednesday after disembarking from the architectural river cruise that is a favourite with tourists. “That’s what my goal is; coming from a business background, you have to be a mover and a shaker, go out and knock on doors. You got to sell your product and Toronto is an easy product to sell. It’s a beautiful, safe, clean city and we have to get it out there.”

Mayor Emanuel, for his part, said he had a “very good meeting” with his Toronto counterpart in which they discussed “shared opportunities” and ways to learn from each other.

More than 60 business leaders, eight city councillors and a handful of city staff joined Mayor Ford on the “Team Toronto” two-day business trip to Chicago, his first since taking office. With the value of trade missions sometimes hard to quantify, delegates insisted the face-to-face encounters are more than just a junket. The event has not garnered a lot of local attention, although The Wall Street Journal noted that Toronto’s “colourful mayor” was in Chicago to bolster ties.

The mayor, who was once critical of taxpayer-funded trips, continued to declare the mission would not cost taxpayers — even in the face of evidence that it will. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m paying for my own trip. It’s not costing the taxpayers a dime,” he said.

Business delegates are footing their own bill and their registration fees will cover the cost of organizing the event, said Councillor Peter Milczyn. But city staff will have their expenses covered by the city, he said; several councillors also said they did not intend to pay out of their own pocket for a business trip.

“You guys should be focusing on the fact that we’re here to promote jobs,” said Councillor Milczyn. “We had a paving contractor from Toronto who scored a meeting with the Illinois governor to talk about new paving technologies that could bring millions of dollars of business to a Toronto company doing business in Illinois. That’s what this is for.”

Mr. Milczyn was referring to Fer-Pal, a Toronto-based company that has developed a product that rehabilitates old water mains.

Mr. Ford apparently plugged the company in a private meeting Tuesday with Pat Quinn, the Governor of Illinois. “He expressed an interest in it,” said Shaun McKaigue, vice- president of Fer-Pal, which also has a branch in Michigan, and a meeting may now be the result.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr. Ford got a warm reception at a new tech start-up hub in Chicago’s art deco Merchandise Mart. In an office with a Donkey Kong arcade game and a scooter to get around, more than 100 suit-clad business leaders from both sides of the border mingled. “Look, personal relationships matter. That’s how business gets done,” said J.B. Pritzker, the managing partner for The Pritzker Group, a Chicago-based investment firm that owns companies in manufacturing and health care. “There may end up out of this a new factory, a new facility that gets built in either city. And digital entrepreneurs may end up partnering together and building great companies.”

I know there is some skepticism at times that these are boondoggles, they are real trips

Jerry Roper, head of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, noted that a Toronto-based electronics recycling company is opening a 60,000-square-foot facility in a Chicago suburb.

“I know there is some skepticism at times that these are boondoggles, they are real trips. You travel with a mayor, you’re going from 7 in the morning to 7 at night just meeting people, making deals happen,” said Mr. Roper.

Mr. Ford ended his day with a visit to U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, where he handed out his business card to local workers and told them to call him if they are in Toronto. The delegation returns home on Thursday.